anthropomorphism

Noun

anthropomorphism (countable and uncountable, plural anthropomorphisms)

1. The ascribing of human characteristics and behaviors to nonhuman entities.
   • Literature is full of examples of anthropomorphism, especially in children’s stories, from The Wind in the Willows to Watership Down.2016 January 14, Stephen Ross, “What you see in this picture says more about you than the kangaroo”, in The Guardian
   • Anthropic is regarded as a giant among AI companies, but perhaps what it really excels in is anthropomorphism. Earlier this year, the company released an 84-page document titled Claude’s “constitution,” Claude being the name of the large language model that is the company’s flagship product.2026 June 3, Ted Chiang, “No, Artificial Intelligence Is Not Conscious”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC
2. The ascribing of human characteristics and behaviors to divine nonhuman entities.
   • Only an over-idealized Hellenism may properly be acutely sensitive to the anthropomorphism of gods, when, in speech and action, they display their human qualities.1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VIII. Orestea. III: Eumenides”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 222